Drum tightening-ear



C. S. WALTON.

DRUM TIGHTENING EAR. APPLICATION HLED JULY 5.1918.

1,335,867. Pat nted Apr. 6, 1920.

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afjorzzgy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

CHARLES S. WALTON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

DRUM TIGH'IENING-EAR.

Application filed July 5, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gi-rannns S. WAn'roN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drum Tightening-Ears, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

My invention consists of an improved tightening ear for drums.

One object of my invention is to provide a tightening ear which can be quickly and easily attached to and removed from the head-tightening ropes of drums.

Another object is to construct my improved tightening ear in such a manner that it will not scratch or otherwise injure the side or ropes of the drum, and so that it can be easily manipulated.

' A further object is to make the device of my invention so that it will securely grip the drum ropes and will not accidentally be come loose.

These objects, and other advantageous ends which will be described hereinafter, I attain in the following manner, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a drum having my improved tightening ears thereon.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of one of my improved rope tightening ears; sufficient of the rope being illustrated to show the adaptability of my invention.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on the line of Fig. 2, and

Fig. fl: is a view showing one of my improved rope tightening ears open and ready for i attachment;

Referring to the drawings, 5 represents a drum which may be of any construction employing a rope 6 adapted to secure the heads of the drum'together. A. rope of this type is used on practically all drums, and is arranged in a zig-zag manner around the peripheral side surface of the drum so that by moving together two adjacent strands, as illustrated at 7, the oppositely disposed heads of the drum will be tightened.

Rope tightening ears are usually employed for this purpose, and as illustrated, I have provided rope tightening ears 8. Each of these cars includes a sectoral strip .9 of leather or other flexible material and 1 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

Serial No. 243,271.

made tapering in width in the form of a sector of a circle with the apex cut oil concentric to the are of the sector, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. In other words, the edges 10 and 11 of the strip 9 are arranged at an angle to each other, so that the strip 5) tapers upwardly. The top edge 12 and the bottom edge 13 of the strip 9 are preferably curved downwardly as shown at Fig. l for a purpose hereinafter more fully described.

The opposite edge portions 14: and 15 are provided with snap buttons 16. The sockets 17 of said buttons are secured to the edge portion 1.4:, while the bulbular or tenon portion 18 of the buttons are attached to the edge portion 15.

When the sectoral strip 9 is folded around two adjacent strands 7 of the rope 6, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, the end portions 11 and 15 will overlap and the tenons or bulbular portions 18 of the snap buttons 16 can be forced within the button sockets 17. The strands 7 flare downwardly and ,by cutting the strip in the shape as above described and as illustrated in the drawings, when the end portions 1% and 15 are overlapped and secured by the snap buttons, the device will accommodate the rope strands so that if moved downwardly, tension will be applied to the rope to draw the heads of the drum tight.

The tightening ear thus produced will have no metallic projections which will scratch the sides of the drum, since a plain leather backing is produced which, if it comes in contact with the drum, will not scratch or injure the same.

By cutting the sectoral strip as above described, the top and bottom edges will substantially register with each other when the device is on the rope strands so that a very neat appearing ear is produced.

It is often necessary to adjust the rope while on a drum. and tightening ears made in accordance with my invention can be quickly and easily slid to apply the desired amount of tension On the ropes. Furthermore, in view of the fact that the rope stretches and must be shortened from time to time, it is advantageous and desirable that the tightening cars can be quickly removed from the rope strands to permit the tree manipulation of the rope.

My improved tightening ear is well adapted for this purpose since it is merely necessary, in order to remove the ear from the rope strands, to pull outwardly on the or'erlapped end portion 1% to disconnect or unfasten the buttons; and easily 'done.

The term sectoral strip as used in the claim implies a piece made substantially .in the form of a sector of a circle with the apex cut oil".

\Vhile I have described my invention as taking a particular form, it will be understood that the various parts of my inven tion may be changed without departing from the spirit thereof, and hence I do not limit myself to the precise construction set forth, but consider that I am at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly come within the scope. of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention,

This can be quickly what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters latent is:

A drum tightening ear comprising a piece of flexiblenonn'ietallicmaterial of tapering width; and readily detachable securing means having co-acting connecting parts on opposite sides of said piece of material and spaced inwardly from the opposite edges 

